Israel

Jewish settlers attacked a 67-year-old Palestinian farmer while tending to his field along with his family in Beit Ummar, to the north of Al-Khalil, on Saturday morning.

Mohammed Awad, the coordinator of the popular committee in Beit Ummar, told Quds Press that Mohammed Salibi, 67, was tending to his farm along with his sons and daughters when suddenly dozens of masked settlers from the nearby settlement of Beit Ayin ran toward them while throwing rocks.

He said that he rushed to protect his children, who were panicked, and took them away to their home leaving his tractor behind.

I missed this crazy argument out of Israel, but Paul Pillar has pointed it out in a great op-ed at the National Interest– a piece from two Israelis at the Bar-Ilan University calling for a largescale attack on Gaza to “mow the lawn” again before the end of the U.S. presidential campaign forecloses the possibility.
The Efraim Inbar-Max Singer piece reminds us that Israel’s chief and favored response to political problems is: massive violence. The attack would be bigger than Cast Lead of ’08-09! Demonstrating the role of impunity– Goldstone was squelched, these guys think that Israel can just squelch the next Goldstone.